Pakistan to remain on FATF's grey list until June

• Pakistan to remain on FATF's grey list until June 2021 
• FATF recognises Pakistan's counterterrorism and anti-money laundering efforts but says it needs to do more
• Says out of the 27 conditions, Pakistan needs to work on the remaining three — all related to terror financing

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Thursday said that Pakistan remains under "increased monitoring" when it comes to terror financing, therefore, it will remain on the grey list until June 2021.

The decision comes after a three-day virtual meeting of the FATF that began on February 22, during which steps taken by Pakistan against terror financing were reviewed.

Speaking via a live video link, the FATF President Dr Marcus Pleyer said that while FATF recognises Pakistan's counterterrorism efforts, there are still some serious deficiencies that the country needs to address. 

"Out of the 27 conditions of the action plan, three still need to be addressed," he said. "I recognise Pakistan's efforts, and out of the six tasks that it had to complete, three had been done, but it substantially needs to work on the remaining three in terms of terror financing."

Pleyer stressed that Pakistan must continue to work on the items that it has committed to and make sure that it meets all the requirements, adding that FATF will once again review Pakistan's efforts in June 2021.

Replying to a question related to terrorists' prosecution in Pakistan, he said that the body is "not an investigative organisation," and that it "does not look at single incidents but takes a look at the entire framework" [to decide a country's status].

He said that the risk of Pakistan being put on the blacklist had not gone, and that the country must continue to work on outstanding action points to fix its financial monitoring mechanisms.

"The deadline for Pakistan [to meet the 27 conditions] had expired, that is why the body had urged Pakistani authorities to ramp up their efforts in dealing with the items."

Regarding India, he said that the country has been subjected to the "same rules as others," adding that the watchdog would take a look at India when the time comes.

Pleyer added that FATF continues to monitor financial crimes and terror financing which have become more complicated due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

Back in October 2020, FATF had acknowledged that of the 27 conditions that were put forth to Pakistan, 21 had been fulfilled while six were left.

At that time, Dr Pleyer had said that once the remaining six conditions are fulfilled, an "on-site visit" will be approved under which a team from the FATF will visit the country for the next review.

"Our discussions are confidential [...] the members decided by consensus that Pakistan needs to complete these six items for an onsite visit to be granted.

Pakistan completed 90% of FATF's requirements: Hammad Azhar

Responding to the development, Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said that Pakistan had completed as much as 90% of the FATF's action plan.

The minister said that the FATF has acknowledged Pakistan's high-level political commitment since 2018 that led to significant progress.

"It was also noted by FATF member countries that Pakistan is subject to perhaps the most challenging & comprehensive action plan ever given to any country," he wrote on Twitter.

We are also subject to dual evaluation processes of FATF with differing timelines, the minister said.

"Pakistan remains committed to complying with both FATF evaluation processes and I would like to commend the hard work done by dedicated teams in multiple govt depts at Federal & provincial tiers," he said.

Moreover, the industries minister said that he would be holding a press conference at 11:30am tomorrow in response to the decision.

With input from Reuters.